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Bring It On
|distributor = Universal Pictures |budget = $28,000,000 |gross = $90,449,929}} Bring It On is a 2000 American teen comedy film that was directed by Peyton Reed and written by Jessica Bendinger, starring Kirsten Dunst, Eliza Dushku, Jesse Bradford and Gabrielle Union. The film was released on August 25, 2000 and is the first film of the "Bring It On" film series and was followed by five direct-to-video sequels: Bring It On Again (in 2004), Bring It On: All or Nothing (in 2006), Bring It On: In It to Win It (in 2007), Bring It On: Fight to the Finish (in 2009) and Bring It On: Worldwide Cheersmack (in 2017). Plot Torrance Shipman (Kirsten Dunst), a student at Rancho Carne High School in San Diego, anxiously dreams about her first day of senior year. Her boyfriend, Aaron (Richard Hillman) has left for college & her cheerleading squad, the Toros is aiming for a sixth consecutive national title. Torrance is elected to replace the team captain, "Big Red" (Lindsay Sloane) who is graduating. Soon, however, teammate Carver (Bianca Kajlich) is injured and can no longer compete with her broken leg. Torrance holds an audition for Carver's replacement and gains Missy Pantone (Eliza Dushku), a gymnast who recently transferred to the school with her brother Cliff (Jesse Bradford) with whom Torrance develops a flirtatious friendship. While watching the Toros practice, Missy recognizes their routines from a rival squad that her previous high school used to compete against. After accusing Torrance of being a liar and stealing the routine, she learns from Torrance's offended and passionately defensive reaction that she was completely unaware. So Missy drives Torrance to Los Angeles, where they watch the East Compton Clovers perform routines that are virtually identical to their own team's. Isis (Gabrielle Union), the Clovers' team captain, angrily confronts the two. Torrance learns that "Big Red" regularly attended the Clovers' practices to videotape and steal their routines. In the meantime, Missy is seen as a threat by the other female members of the squad (because of her outstanding gymnastic abilities), but she ends up becoming Torrance's best friend and de facto co-captain Isis informs Torrance of her plans to defeat the Toros at the regional and national championships, which the team has never attended due to their economic hardship. When Torrance tells the Toros about the routines, the team still votes in favor of using the current routine to win; Torrance reluctantly agrees. At the Toros' next home game, Isis and her teammates show up and perform the Toros' routine in front of the whole school, humiliating them. The Toros realize that they have no choice but to learn a different routine. In desperation, they employ a professional choreographer named Sparky Polastri (Ian Roberts) to provide one, as suggested by Aaron, but at the Regionals, the team scheduled immediately ahead of the Toros performs the exact routine they had been practicing. The Toros have no choice but to perform the very same routine. After the debacle that ensues, Torrance speaks to a competition official and is told Polastri provided the routine to several other teams in California. As the defending champions, the Toros are nevertheless granted their place in the Finals, but Torrance is warned that a new routine will be expected. Torrance (crushed by her failure to lead the team successfully) considers quitting. Cliff encourages and supports her, intensifying their growing attraction. However, Aaron suggests that she is not leadership material and recommends that she step down from her position, selling her out in the process to Courtney (Clare Kramer) and Whitney (Nicole Bilderback) who have set themselves up as Torrance's rivals. When Cliff sees Torrance and Aaron together, he angrily severs his friendship with Torrance, to her distress. But her confidence is renewed by Cliff's encouragement and she convinces her unhappy team to create an innovative, new routine instead. Torrance breaks up with Aaron, realizing his infidelity and his inability to be supportive, but Cliff still refuses to forgive her. Meanwhile, the Clovers are initially unable to compete at Nationals due to financial problems. This prompts Torrance to get her dad's company to sponsor the Clovers, but Isis rejects the money and gets her team to Nationals by appealing to a talk show host who grew up in their area. In the finals, the Toros place second while the Clovers win first place. However, at the end of the movie, Torrance & Isis find respect in each other and Cliff & Torrance share a romantic kiss. During the credits, bloopers are seen as the characters dance and lip-sync to B*Witched's version of Mickey. Cast *Kirsten Dunst as Torrance Shipman *Eliza Dushku as Missy Pantone *Jesse Bradford as Cliff Pantone *Gabrielle Union as Isis *Clare Kramer as Courtney *Nicole Bilderback as Whitney *Tsianina Joelson as Darcy *Rini Bell as Kasey *Nathan West as Jan *Shamari Fears as Lava *Natina Reed as Jenelope *Brandi Williams as LaFred *Richard Hillman as Aaron *Lindsay Sloane as Big Red Production "Bring It On" was produced by Marc Abraham & Thomas Bliss. It was the debut film of director Peyton Reed. His major concern with the film was pushing the sexual aspects of cheerleading without losing a PG-13 rating. Roger Ebert from the Chicago Sun-Times argued that this agenda followed a trend of films at the time that watered down material in order to avoid an R rating and increase box office gross. Prior to auditioning for the film, actors were expected to have a cheer prepared. In order to avoid the use of stunt doubles, Reed required all the actors to undergo a four-week cheerleading camp. Reed and Gabrielle Union met numerous times to discuss the best way to approach her character. "I think she was able to find what was cool about that character that in a way I doubt other actresses could have," Reed explained in an interview, "Whenever she's on the screen she has this charism''a." When editing the film, Reed and editor Larry Bock watched cheerleading exploitation films from the 1970s. Box Office "Bring It On" was released in North America on August 25, 2000. The film grossed $17,362,105 in 2,380 theaters during its opening weekend, ranking first at the North American box office. Even though it experienced an 18% decline in gross earnings, the film held the top position for a second consecutive week, and later on a third. "Bring It On" went on to gross $68,379,000 in North America and an additional $22,070,929 overseas for a total gross of $90,449,929. Critical Reception "Bring It On" received a 63% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, based on a total of 117 compiled reviews; the site's consensus reads: "''Despite the formulaic, fluffy storyline, this movie is surprisingly fun to watch, mostly due to its high energy and how it humorously spoofs cheerleading instead of taking itself too seriously." In comparison, Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, gave the film an average score of 52 based on 31 reviews, indicating "Mixed or average reviews". A. O. Scott from The New York Times commended the film for being able to "gesture toward serious matters of race and economic inequality", as well as for its "occasional snarl of genuine satire". Kevin Thomas of The Los Angeles Times also favored the film, calling it a "Smart and sassy high school movie that's fun for all ages." Steven Rae from The Philadelphia Inquirer found it to be a "likable, low-budget high school comedy." Meanwhile, Kim Morgan of The Oregonian dubbed it the "newest, and probably first, true cheerleading movie." However, some reviewers criticized the plot of the film. Although David Sterritt of The Christian Science Monitor gave praise for the writing, he likened the storyline's simplicity to that of "the average football cheer". Kim Edwards from the Chicago Tribune, in a negative review, found the film "Absurdly unrealistic at times." The Seattle Post-Intelligencer's Paula Nechak concluded that the film was "predictable and surprisingly confusing in its ultimate message." Many critics reserved praise for Kirsten Dunst's performance. In his review, A. O. Scott called her "a terrific comic actress, largely because of her great expressive range, and the nimbleness with which she can shift from anxiety to aggression to genuine hurt." Charles Taylor of Salon noted that "among contemporary teenage actresses, Dunst has become the sunniest imaginable parodist." Jessica Winter from The Village Voice shared this sentiment, commenting that "Dunst provides the only major element of Bring It On that plays as tweaking parody rather than slick, strident, body-slam churlishness." Peter Stack of the San Francisco Chronicle, despite giving the film an unfavorable review, commended Dunst for her willingness "to be as silly and cloyingly agreeable as it takes to get through a slapdash film." Cultural historian Maud Lavin says that despite "Bring It On's predictable plot, its depiction of aggressive and competitive women, the differences shown between class and race, and the playful way it deals with homophobia gives it deeper cultural clout and meaning. In particular, Lavin says that the film suggests race relations could be "smoothed and transcended through level-playing-field sports competitiveness." Trailer Gallery nbmr7b.gif|One scene of this movie in which Missy licks her finger in an attempt to remove her tattoo. Category:2000 films Category:2000s films Category:2000s comedy films Category:American films Category:English-language films Category:Comedy films Category:Comedy Category:American comedy films Category:Sports films Category:Sport Category:Sports comedy films Category:Universal films Category:Universal Pictures films Category:Rated PG-13 movies Category:Eliza dushku and everybody Category:Mediamass